A Foundation of Miracles
Dear Church,
I am writing this on Monday of Holy Week. Six days until Easter. When I think about Easter, I think of spring: everything coming back to life, grass beginning to green, blossoms beginning to bud on trees, animals poking their heads out into the sunshine.
Today it’s snowing outside. There are several feet of snow on the ground. Really? I feel a bit blue, a bit discouraged, honestly. Will spring ever come? ….Yes. Yes it will. That’s the beauty of the seasons, of nature. It never ceases to amaze me that under those piles of deep, dirty snow, life continues. Author Sheila Pickles writes, “When the snowdrops push their green spears through the earth, I know that spring has arrived, and each year I think what a miracle it is. No matter how long the winter, how hard the frost or how deep the snow, Nature triumphs.” And what a miracle it is.
Our faith is built on a foundation of miracles. On Sunday we will read the story of Mary Magdalene and another Mary meeting the Angel of the Lord at Jesus’ empty tomb telling them that Jesus has been raised from the dead. The Marys run to tell the others, but Jesus stops them on the way. “Greetings!” he says. Then the Marys go to him, take hold of his feet, and worship him. They don’t stop to question the miracle before them. They embrace the living God, simply grateful for his presence.
The resurrection of Christ. It is a story that calls us to suspend disbelief – to transcend our post-post-enlightenment skepticism. To accept both the miracle and the mystery of this story of hope – hope in the possible, and the seemingly impossible. A story that tells us that God is present with us, in the here and the now. That miracles surround us all the time. That the love of God surrounds us all the time.
My wish for you this Easter season is that you open your heart, spirit, and mind to the possibility of miracles. That you know deep in your soul that you are in the presence of God, and God really is working to make all things new.
Christ will rise again, and spring will come. And what a miracle it will be.
Happy Easter.
Love, Mary
